iPest Control
by tdrummer14
Summary: Something is lurking within the walls and cupboards of Apartment 8-C and it will take all their efforts to stop the unwanted intruder.


**Hi everyone! Well, it's that time again. Time for another iCarly fanfic. I'm a little sad that the show ended, but it was a good show and I thank Dan Schneider and everyone involved for making it. And now, on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out, I do not own iCarly.**

iPest Control

Spencer Shay was on pins and needles. He was in his living room working on his greatest and most complicated art creation yet. He was constructing a model of Mount Rushmore made entirely out of toothpicks. The model was tall enough to reach Spencer's knee and was currently sitting on a table while the artist worked on it. Spencer had managed to create George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and half of Abraham Lincoln's face. He was now attempting to stick half a toothpick on the bridge of Lincoln's nose.

"Careful, careful." he thought to himself as he slowly moved his hand toward the model, trying hard not to drop the toothpick or place it on the wrong location. He touched the glued side of the toothpick to Lincoln's nose and gently pressed it down to stick to the other toothpicks.

Suddenly, the apartment door opened and in walked the younger Shay sibling. "Hey Spencer!" she greeted.

Spencer jumped in surprise and hit the table, causing the model to begin tipping over. He quickly grabbed the model before it could fall and steadied it back on the table. Then he looked at his sister. "Don't scare me like that, Carly! I could have knocked over my model!"

Carly turned red with embarrassment. "Sorry about that Spencer. How is it coming along?"

"I'm just finishing Abe's nose. I should have this model done by tomorrow."

Carly walked toward Spencer to get a better look at the model. "Wow, it looks really great Spencer! You'll be selling that in no time."

Spencer grinned. "Oh yeah. This will be my greatest creation of all time!"

Carly patted his shoulder. "I'm proud of you Spencer."

"Thanks Carly."

"I'm going to get a snack. You want anything?"

"Could you bring me those cookies from the cupboard?"

"Coming right up!" Carly walked to the kitchen. Spencer turned back to his model. He picked up another toothpick and applied glue to it. Then he carefully moved the toothpick toward Lincoln's face. He placed the toothpick onto the nose and started to press down on it when...

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

The scream from the kitchen startled Spencer and caused him to knock over the table. Mount Rushmore hit the floor and shattered to pieces.

"NOOOOOOOO!" yelled Spencer as he fell to his knees and looked at his ruined masterpiece in horror. "My Mount Rushmore! It took me two weeks to make this!" He sadly looked at Carly, who ran back into the living room. "My Mount Rushmore is no more."

"Spencer, I saw a rat!" said Carly.

Spencer's sad look quickly faded. "What? Where?"

"In the kitchen! Eating the cookies!" said Carly pointing to the cupboard.

Spencer stood up and rushed to the cupboard. He opened the cupboard door and then yelled "Holy Cannoli!" at what he saw inside. The rat was standing on the second shelf of the cupboard, eating a cookie in its hands. The rodent stopped munching on the cookie and stared at Spencer with a frightened gaze. Spencer quickly ran to a drawer, took out a spatula, and ran back toward the cupboard. Realizing what the older Shay was about to do, the rat dropped the cookie and scurried out of the cupboard and onto the kitchen counter. The rat sprinted across the counter and ran behind the coffee maker in the corner.

"Ha ha, I've got you trapped!" yelled Spencer as he raised his spatula and reached for the coffee maker. "There's nowhere to run!" Spencer moved the coffee maker to the side and swung the spatula down onto the rat, only to find that there was no rat. Instead, there was a rat-sized hole in the wall.

"Did you get it?" asked Carly, who was timidly approaching her brother.

"No. He got away. Ran straight into that hole."

Carly's eyebrows furrowed. "What hole?"

"That one right there," Spencer pointed. "Looks like he made a hole right behind the coffee maker. I guess that's how he was able to get into the kitchen." He started checking the other cupboards and saw a couple boxes of food torn open and some of their contents spilt out. "Aw man! He got into the Hamburger Helper!"

"We need to get rid of that rat before it causes any more damage." Carly took out her cell phone and started dialing numbers.

Spencer turned to his sister. "What are you doing?"

"I'm calling an exterminator."

"No Carly, wait! Don't call the exterminator!"

Carly looked at him with confusion. "Why not?"

"Carly, this is just one rat. We don't need an exterminator for something that we can take care of ourselves."

"Uh, are you sure? It might be better to leave this to a professional."

Spencer shook his head. "Nope. We can take care of this rat, no problem. Besides, exterminators aren't cheap. I don't want to pay a ton of money just for one rat."

Carly hung up her phone. "Well, okay. If you're sure..."

"Great! I'm going to the store to buy some rat traps." Spencer quickly grabbed his jacket and rushed to the door.

Carly's eyes widened. "No Spencer wait! Don't leave me with the...!"

But Spencer was already out the door and running down the hall. The door slowly closed shut, leaving Carly alone in the silent apartment. Carly slowly sat down on the couch, nervously looked around for any signs of furry rodents. "Please don't get me. Please don't get me. Please don't get me." she whispered.

* * *

"I'm back!" yelled Spencer as he opened the apartment door. He was carrying a paper bag.

Carly sighed with relief and stood up from the couch, having not moved from it since he left. "It's about time! I can't believe you left me here with the rat!"

"Oh, sorry about that." Spencer said sheepishly. He turned his attention to the bag in his hand. "Well anyway, here are the traps I got."

Spencer set the bag on the coffee table and began to empty out its contents. He pulled out a few spring traps and some glue traps. He removed the plastic off one of the spring traps. "I'm going to set these around the apartment. Want to give me a hand?"

"Sure." said Carly as she picked up a glue trap. The Shays set some traps around the kitchen and placed a few of the traps in the living room. Spencer even placed a trap near the coffee maker in case the rat used its hole again.

Spencer rubbed his hands together with glee. "Alright, the traps are set! We should have that rat by morning!"

Carly nodded. "I hope so. The sooner, the better."

Spencer looked at his sister. "So...wanna order a pizza?"

Carly smiled. "Sounds great."

Spencer started walking toward the phone, but stopped short when he caught sight of his broken Mount Rushmore model still laying on the floor. He grimaced a bit and looked at Carly. "Wanna help me clean that up first?"

Carly gave him a sympathetic smile. "Sure."

* * *

Carly opened her eyes and looked at the clock on her nightstand. The numbers on its face read "9:30am." She yawned and stretched before getting out of bed. She took a shower, got dressed, and then walked down the stairs to the living room. The delicious smell of bacon filled her nostrils. She looked in the kitchen to see Spencer standing over the stove, working on a pan of bacon.

"Morning Spencer!" she called.

Spencer looked back at her. "Morning Carly. I'm making some bacon and eggs."

Carly smiled. "That sounds great. I'm going to bring out some cereal too."

She walked to one of the cupboards where the cereal was kept. She pulled out a box of Cherrios which, to her surprise, began spilling out its contents. "Huh?" Carly turned the cereal box around and saw a hole in one of its corners. "Oh my God!"

Spencer quickly turned around. "What? What's wrong?"

Carly looked at him. "There's a hole in the Cherrios box! The rat must have ate through it yesterday!"

Spencer looked surprised. "What?! But I checked all of the boxes! The Cherrios box was fine last night!"

"It was?" Carly asked as she looked back at the box's hole. It was at that moment that the rat poked its head out of the Cherrios box and stared right at Carly's face. Carly screamed and dropped the cereal box. The rat squeezed itself out of the box and ran to the living room. Spencer ran after the rat with his spatula raised. In his haste to catch the rat, Spencer made the mistake of stepping on the Cherrios box. The lack of traction caused Spencer's foot to slip on the box and the young man tumbled to the floor.

Carly rushed over to her brother. "Spencer, are you okay?!"

Spencer looked up at her. "Not really!"

Carly slowly helped him to his feet. "Did you break anything?"

"No, I don't think so." Spencer stood up and dusted himself off. "Did you see where the rat went?"

"I think it ran under the couch."

"Alright, I'm going in." Spencer rolled up his sleeves and walked over to the side of the couch. He got down on his hands and knees and peeked underneath. It was too dark to see anything, so Spencer stuck his hand under the couch. He felt around for anything resembling a small furry animal, but came up with nothing. Spencer moved to the back of the couch to continue the search. He stuck his hand under the couch when-

**SNAP!**

Spencer yanked his hand from under the couch and grabbed his wrist, yelling in pain. Carly ran over to him to see what was the matter. She saw a spring trap clamped down on Spencer's hand.

"OOOWWW! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" yelled Spencer.

Carly took hold of the trap and carefully released its grip on Spencer's fingers. The older Shay put his sore fingers in his mouth and sucked on them.

"Are you alright?" Carly asked as she put the trap away.

Spencer took his fingers out of his mouth. "No! That really hurt!"

"Why was there a trap under the couch?"

"I put it there."

Carly stared at him. "Then why'd you stick your hand under the couch?"

Spencer looked at her sheepishly. "I kind of forgot I put it there."

Carly sighed. "Spencer, you have to remember where you put these traps!" After shaking her head at him, Carly walked back into the kitchen. "I'm going to get you the first-aid kit. Are there any other traps I should know ab-?"

Carly stopped in her tracks next to the dining table. She lifted her leg up and looked under her foot. A glue trap was stuck to the sole of her shoe. She gave Spencer an annoyed look.

Spencer nervously scratched the back of his head. "Oh, I...uh... put a trap on the floor by the dining table."

"Yeah, I realize that!" she retorted.

* * *

Carly, Sam, and Freddy arrived at Bushwell Plaza in high spirits. It was Friday afternoon, they had just finished another school day, and now they were ready to start their spring break. Best of all, this Friday was Ridgeway High School's 32nd Annual Spring Fair. The student body government and faculty had set up various booths and activities for the students to enjoy. There were food booths and carnival style games. There were booths that sold all kinds of items from hand-made jewelry to school t-shirts. There was even a talent show and a few contests.

The trio stepped out of the main elevator and headed to the Shay's apartment. Carly was carrying a charcoal-sketched portrait of herself that she got from the art booth. Freddie was eating from a bag of peanut butter cookies and wearing a purple and green jester hat. Sam was holding a small piece of paper. She was grinning from ear to ear as she looked at the paper.

Freddie looked at the smiling blonde. "Sam, how many times are you going to keep reading that?"

Sam looked up at him. "Until I start seeing the words with my eyes closed. Since you are so eager to get me to stop, I'm going to read it again. Out loud this time." Sam mockingly cleared her throat and reread the paper. _"Gift certificate for free buffalo wings for a year at Jack's Chicken Coop. This gift certificate has been issued to Samantha Puckett."_

Sam put her arm around Freddie's shoulders and waved the certificate in his face. "See that? Free buffalo wings for a year. Issued to me, the queen of fat cakes."

"Yeah, yeah." Freddie groaned.

"Aw come on! You know you love hearing it."

Freddie rolled his eyes. "Yes, I really love hearing for the billionth time that you got free buffalo wings for winning the fat cake eating contest. I just can't get enough of it!"

"Aw Freddie. Let Sam have her moment," said Carly. "I'm actually quite proud of her. She managed to beat Paul o' Toole."

"I still don't get how that is possible!" said Freddie. "Paul is the fattest guy in our class and Sam beat him by eight fat cakes! He actually passed out from all that food!"

"Well, that serves him right for thinking he can beat me in an eating contest." Sam sneered as she stole a cookie out of Freddie's bag.

"Hey that's mine! And how can you still be eating after that contest?! You had 36 fat cakes!"

"You say that like you don't know me at all." said Sam before putting the cookie in her mouth.

The trio reached the Shay's front door and Carly fished her keys from her purse. "I'm so ready for this spring break. It will make the chaos at my apartment more bearable."

Both her friends looked at her with concern. "Why? What's up?"

Carly hesitated for a bit before she spoke. "Can I ask you guys a favor?"

Sam brightened up. "Does it involve leftover pizza?"

"Sam!" Freddie scolded as he lightly elbowed Sam's rib. "What's the favor Carly?"

"We have a rat in our apartment. Could you guys help me and Spencer get rid of it?"

"Why don't you call an exterminator?" asked Freddie.

"Spencer says it's too expensive to hire an exterminator for one rat, so we're trying to get the rat ourselves."

"How long have you and Spencer been trying to get the rat?" asked Freddie.

"About a week."

Freddie raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

Carly sighed. "Yup."

"I don't believe this!" said Sam. "You two need our help to take care of a simple rat?!"

Carly looked at Sam as she unlocked the door. "Well, it's harder than we thought it would be."

"Psh, oh please! It can't be **that** hard!"

Carly opened the door and the trio walked into the apartment. They stopped short at the sight before them. Spencer was laying facedown on the floor looking like a complete mess. His head was somehow caught in a metal cage trap. Glue traps were all over Spencer's shirt and pants. There was even a glue trap stuck to the left side of his face. Both of his hands had a spring trap clamped shut on his fingers. He looked up at the three teenagers staring at him.

"Hi guys." he said waving one of his trap-ensnared hands. "Could you get me out of these traps?"

Sam looked back at Carly. "Okay, we'll help you."

* * *

Six minutes later, the teens managed to remove all of the traps from Spencer. After he tended to his cuts and bruises, Spencer and the trio sat around the dining room table to have a drink and discuss their rat problem.

"How have you guys tried to get the rat?" asked Freddie.

Carly sipped her Wahoo Punch before answering. "Well as you've already seen, we've tried spring traps, glue traps, and cage traps. We tried blocking the holes it comes through, but it just keeps making more. One time Spencer even smeared some peanut butter in front of one of the holes and waited by the hole for 42 hours straight to hit the rat with a baseball bat."

Freddie's eyes widen. "42 hours?! With no sleep?"

Carly shook her head. "Not even a blink."

Freddie looked at Spencer in surprise. "How did you stay awake for that long?"

Spencer smiled. "A large pot of coffee and a couple of Blue Bulls." Then his smile vanished. "However I was so tired afterwards, I passed out while Carly was at school and the rat stole more food and chewed up one of Carly's sweaters while I was sleeping."

Carly looked at Spencer with wide eyes. "The rat did what?!"

Spencer grinned at his sister sheepishly. "Oh yeah, I've been meaning to tell you about that. The rat chewed holes in your purple and pink sweater."

Carly stood up from her chair with her fists balled up and her teeth bared. "That was my favorite sweater! Dad gave it to me before he left on active duty! When I get my hands on that sweater-killing furball, I'm going to strangle it!"

Freddie quickly stood up and put his hands on his angry friend's shoulders. "Carly, calm down! We need you to sit down and chill! Yelling is not going to get us anywhere!"

Carly slowly sat back in her chair and took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm calm now."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You sure you're alright?"

Carly nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I really am calm." Carly gave them a smile for good measure, although it looked a bit clenched.

Spencer looked at Sam and Freddie. "So, you guys have any ideas?"

Ignoring Carly's murmurs about rats and taxidermy, Freddie answered. "Well, it seems that the standard traps are not working, so we need to try something different. If we can draw out the rat from its hiding place, it will be easier for us to get it."

"How do we draw the rat out?" asked Spencer.

"We'll use poisoned cheese as bait. We'll put the cheese out in the middle of the living room where we can see it and wait for the rat to come out and eat it."

Sam shook her head. "I don't think the rat is going to fall for that. It might think something is wrong if you just leave one piece of cheese out in the open."

"I won't be leaving just one piece of cheese. I'll be leaving several pieces of cheese to make the trap more tempting."

"That won't be enough." Carly objected. "Even with all that cheese, the rat won't come out if we're all here."

"That's why we'll all be hanging out in my bedroom. I'm going to set up cameras in the living room and we can monitor the rat from my computer."

Carly smiled at him. "Freddie, you're a genius!"

"Now that's a sentence you don't hear every day." said Sam, smirking at the glare she was receiving from Freddie.

* * *

After everyone agreed to try the poisoned cheese plan, Freddie went right to work. He took a small block of cheddar out of his fridge and broke it into pieces. He scattered the pieces all over the Shays' coffee table in the living room. Then he obtained some rat poison that was in a crystalline form and ground the poison into a fine powder. Using a sewing needle, Freddie dipped the needle's tip into the powder and poked holes in some of the cheddar pieces. He left the other pieces of cheese un-poisoned in order to trick the rat into thinking all the pieces were safe to eat. Then Freddie set up some cameras around the living room and linked them to his desk computer. When he was finished, Freddie went to his bedroom where Spencer and the girls were waiting for him. He sat at his desk and turned on his computer. All of the cameras' viewpoints were displayed on the monitor. Now all they had to do was hang out in Freddie's room and watch for the rat to take the bait.

Time had passed by and the rat was still nowhere to be seen. Freddie was still watching the screen while trying not to fall asleep. Sam was taking a nap in his bed. Carly and Spencer were playing Jenga in the corner. Spencer was staring intensely at the wooden block building, pondering his next move. He reached for one block, but then changed his mind and put his hand down. He spotted another potential block and reached for it, but then hesitated and slowly put his hand back down.

Carly let out a groan. "Anytime now Spencer! I'd like to finish this game before I get my first gray hair!"

"Carly, I'm an artist. If there is one thing that a good artist knows, it's that one should never rush."

"This isn't art! It's Jenga, for God's sake!"

"Hey, keep it down over there!" called Sam from the bed. "Mama's trying to sleep."

"Sorry Sam. Spencer's taking his sweet time in making a move."

Spencer looked up at his sister. "Carly, I have to! That's the point of this game! I have to think carefully and consider all my options before making a move!"

"Yeah, but you've been 'considering your options' for the past twenty minutes!"

"Well it's a tough choice Carly! I'm trying to decide whether to go for this block in the middle or this block here on the seventh floor or this block on the tenth floor."

"Just pick one already!"

Sam shook her head at the two siblings, then she turned her attention to Freddie. "Hey Fredhead! See anything yet?"

Freddie sighed. "Nope. Still nothing."

"How long has it been?"

"About an hour and twenty minutes."

"Geez Benson, you need to get away from that computer before your brain melts!"

"I can't, Sam. I have to keep an eye out for the rat. Believe me, I'd rather be doing other things instead of watching this monitor."

Sam let out a slight smile. "Oh really? Then how about rubbing my feet?"

Freddie frowned at her. "Other things except that!"

"Ah, you're no fun!" Sam pouted.

"Guys! I see the rat!" said Carly pointing to the computer.

Freddie quickly turned back to his computer and everyone else in the room gathered around him to look at the monitor. Sure enough, several of the viewpoints showed the rat climbing onto the coffee table. It sniffed the air and slowly walked toward the scattered pieces of cheddar. It stopped at the nearest piece of cheese and looked around for any predators. When it felt that it was in no danger, the rat picked up the cheese. He sniffed it a few times and then started chewing on it. Within a few seconds, the cheese was devoured. Then he moved on to the next delicious morsel and ate that one too. After he finished swallowing his second piece, he walked over to the third piece.

"Okay guys, I know that piece of cheese is poisoned." said Freddie.

Everyone leaned closer to the screen and watched in anticipation as the rat approached the lethal morsel. The rat picked up the cheese and smiled as it prepared to eat this tasty treat. It closed its eyes and began to bring the cheese closer to its open mouth. Just as it was about to take a bite, the rat froze. Opening its eyes, the rat took the cheese away from its mouth and looked at it suspiciously. Then the rat started sniffing the cheese. It looked at the cheese and sniffed it again. With a look of disgust, the rat tossed the cheese to the side. The poisoned cheddar fell over the table's edge.

"I think the rat knew that one was poisoned." said Spencer.

Freddie just shrugged. "Maybe there was something wrong with that particular piece. Let's just keep watching. There are still more poisonous ones."

The rat picked up another piece of cheese, sniffed it, and tossed that one away as well. He picked up the next piece and sniffed it. Instead of tossing it, the rat began eating this piece of un-poisoned cheddar.

Freddie could not believe his eyes. "How on Earth does he know which ones are poisoned?! That poison is supposed to be odorless!"

"That rat must have a really good sense of smell." said Carly.

As they continued to watch, the rat kept eating the good pieces and tossing away the bad ones. Once the table was finally cleared of cheddar, the rat hopped off the table and scurried away.

Freddie just stared at the screen with his jaw hanging open. "I don't get it. I just don't get it!"

Sam smirked at the stunned Freddie. "Wow, that's pretty sad. Even a little rodent can defeat you."

Freddie glared at the screen and stood up from his chair. "Well, I don't give up that easily! Time for Plan B!"

* * *

The gang was once again crowded around Freddie's computer screen. All eyes were on one of the cameras' viewpoints, which showed the image of a few M&M's on the living room floor. This was part of Freddie's Plan B. Freddie had brought out a remote-controlled toy mouse from his closet, attached a mini camera to it, and placed it under a lamp table inside the Shay's apartment. The plan was to use this toy mouse to lure the rat into an open cage that was concealed underneath a blanket. Now all they had to do was wait for the rat to come out of hiding and eat the M&M's that were left as bait.

It wasn't long before they saw their furry nemesis on the screen. The rat cautiously approached the M&M's and sniffed them. He looked around him, making sure that he was alone. Then he picked up an M&M and started munching on it.

"Alright, he's taken the bait." said Freddie. "I'm going in." Freddie pushed a small joystick on the controller he was holding and the toy mouse began to move out from under the table. Everyone looked at the viewpoint from the toy mouse's mini camera. They could see the rat through this viewpoint eating the M&M. It was as if they were looking at the rat through the toy mouse's eyes.

Freddie slowly inched the toy closer and closer to the rat. The rat had just finished the last M&M when he took notice of the toy mouse. Freddie let go of the joystick and waited to see what the rat would do. A few seconds passed before the rat started crawling toward the toy mouse.

Freddie smiled. "He's coming this way! I'm going to go a little closer."

"Be careful. Don't scare him away." Carly whispered.

"Yeah, I know." Freddie slightly pushed the joystick and the toy mouse crept forward. The living rodent and the mechanical one slowly approached each other until they both came to a stop six inches apart. The two just stood there and stared at one another.

Carly looked at the rat's face on the screen and covered her mouth with her hands. "Ewww, that is so gross! It's like he's right up in my face!"

"We've got his attention. Now I've just gotta lead him to the cage." Freddie said as he reached for the joystick.

Suddenly, the rat began to hiss. Everybody's eyes widened in surprise and Freddie's hand stopped short of touching the joystick. The rat bared its teeth and hissed at the fake rodent. Then it let out a snarl and lunged at the mouse. The last thing everyone could see was the rat's open mouth before the viewpoint went static.

Nobody spoke for a moment, completely flabbergasted by what they just witnessed. Then Spencer broke the silence. "I...didn't know rats could snarl."

Freddie crossed his arms onto his desk and buried his face into them. "I think I'm going to be sick. That camera cost me $200."

Carly patted his shoulder. "I'm sorry about your camera, Freddie." The disgruntled boy just answered her with a muffled groan.

"Hey guys, look at this." said Spencer.

The teens looked back at the monitor. One of the cameras in the room showed the rat was climbing into an open backpack that was seated on the couch.

Carly's eyes widen. "Sam, that's your backpack!"

The blonde just shrugged. "Yeah. So what? It's no big deal."

Carly stared at Sam. "What do you mean 'no big deal'? A rat is crawling into your bag! That is so disgusting!"

"Don't worry about it. There's no food in my bag. He won't get anything."

"Still, there's a rat in your backpack! You don't think that's gross?!"

"Nah, I used to bring squirrels and bugs back home in my backpack. A rat is not going to bother me."

The group continued to watch the monitor, waiting to see what the furry pest would do. It wasn't long before the rat poked its head out of Sam's backpack and climbed out of the bag to perch itself onto the couch cushion. The rat was holding a small piece of paper in its teeth and he started fiddling with it.

Sam smiled. "See? I told you. He didn't get any food. Just a useless piece of pap-"

Sam stopped talking when she took a closer look at the screen. The paper that the rat was messing with had some words printed on it. She couldn't see all the words on the paper, but she was able to make out three of those words. _Jack's Chicken Coop_.

"MY CERTIFICATE! HE'S GOT MY CERTIFICATE!" The infuriated blonde started running toward the bedroom door.

Freddie called out to her. "Sam, wait! You have to punch in the code to get out!"

But Sam wasn't listening. She ripped off the keypad panel, yanked out a few wires from within the panel, pushed the bedroom door open, and sprinted out of the room.

Freddie stared in bewilderment at the now sparking panel. "Or...you can...do that."

Carly quickly recovered from her own shock at Sam's outburst. "Come on! We have to go after her!" She and Spencer ran out of the bedroom. Freddie shut down his computer and followed them. They rushed out of the Bensons' apartment and entered the Shays' apartment to find Sam turning over the furniture in her pursuit of the furry thief. She tipped up the coffee table and found the rat holding her certificate in its mouth.

"THERE YOU ARE! COME HERE!" Sam yelled, causing the rat to run away. Sam charged after the rat and made a leap toward it. Sam quickly stretched out her hand and caught hold of one end of the certificate. She began to pull the certificate and the rat toward her. The rat hung onto the other end of the certificate and tried pulling it back, but the rodent was slowly losing the tug-of-war. Sam grinned at her opponent. "No use, you little pest! You are not getting my certifi-"

RRRIIIIIPPPP!

The certificate tore at its center and split in two. At that moment, the room went silent. Carly, Freddie, and Spencer stood in shock as they looked at the rat and Sam each holding one half of Sam's prize. Sam sat back up and looked in horror back and forth between the piece of paper in her hand and the one in the rat's mouth. Everybody in the room watched and waited for someone to do something.

Then Sam screamed. It was a scream of pure fury. Without a second thought, Sam ran into the kitchen. While continuing to scream, she pulled the fire extinguisher off the wall and ran back toward the rodent. She raised the fire extinguisher above her head and took a swing at the rat. The rat dodged the attack as the red metal hit the floor. The others watched in horror as the raging teenager ran around the living room trying to crush the little animal while continuing her cries of anger. Her swings kept missing the rat and just made indentations on the floor.

Spencer called out to her. "Sam, stop! You're ruining the floor!"

The screaming blonde paid no attention to Spencer's words and continued her pursuit of the rat and leaving more dents in the floor.

"I'm going to try and stop her." said Freddie. He was about to run over to Sam, but Carly stopped him by grabbing him by the shirt.

"No Freddie! Don't approach her. You won't survive. Let me handle this."

Freddie looked at her in disbelieve, but then nodded and stepped aside. Carly carefully walked towards Sam. When the screaming blonde was close enough, Carly grabbed her from behind and held on tightly, keeping her pissed-off best friend from running around. Sam still tried to run out of Carly's grip and chase the rat, but Carly managed to hold her in place. Then Carly spoke to Sam in a calm, but firm voice. "Sam! I need you to calm down! Please calm down!" Carly risked losing her hold on Sam by using one of her hands to stroke Sam's head while still telling her to calm down.

Little by little, Sam's screaming died down and she struggled less against Carly's arms. Finally Sam stopped screaming and settled down on the floor, although the anger did not leave her face. Carly turned to Freddie and Spencer. "It's alright now. You can approach her now."

The two guys did not budge an inch. "Are you sure about that?" asked Spencer nervously. "She still looks mad enough to rip someone in two."

"Don't worry, it's fine."

Feeling reassured, the boys walked over to the girls. "You okay Sam?" asked Spencer.

Sam stood up and glared at him. "No, I am not okay! That damn rodent just cost me a year of free wings! He is going to pay for that!"

Freddie stepped in. "All right, we need to come up with a plan."

Sam turned her glare to Freddie. "Screw the plans! They aren't working! We're doing it my way this time! Everyone, fan out and look for that thing!"

Not wanting to face her wrath again, the rest of the crew spread out to look for the rat. Sam began searching the kitchen and Spencer went to search his room. Carly and Freddie began searching the living room. Freddie checked behind one of the overturned lamp tables while Carly stuck her head under the couch.

Freddie sighed. "Nothing over here." He turned to look at Carly. "You find anything?"

Carly stuck her head out from under the couch. "No. I could barely see under there."

Freddie's eyes bugged out. Sitting on top of Carly's head was the rat. It was clinging onto her hair for dear life. Carly seemed unaware of the rat's presence.

"Uh Carly?"

Carly looked at him. "Yes?"

Freddie slowly pointed at her head. "Your...your hair."

Carly stared at him in confusion and reached for the top of her head. Her hand enclosed itself on the rat. Carly's eyes widened and she brought her hand in front of her face to see what she grabbed a hold of. As soon as she saw the rat in her hand, Carly freaked out and tossed the rat away. "EW! EW! EW! EW!" she shouted repeatedly as she frantically rubbed her hand on her pant leg.

Then Freddie started screaming. In her haste to rid herself of the rat, Carly had accidentally thrown the rodent onto Freddie's face. The boy shrieked in pain as the terrified rat clawed at his face trying to get away. He stumbled a bit before falling to the floor. The rat jumped off Freddie's face and scurried away. Sam and Spencer rushed back into the living room and Carly ran to help Freddie up. The boy had scratches all over his face.

"Are you alright?" Carly asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Freddie touched his face and flinched from the pain. "How bad is it?"

Carly led Freddie over to their living room computer and Freddie looked at his reflection on the blank screen. "Aw man! I look terrible! My mom's going to freak out when she sees me!"

Carly patted his shoulder. "You just have scratches. It's not that bad."

"It's bad to my mom! She's going to give me eight shots for this! And six of those shots really hurt!"

Carly looked at him with sympathy. "Go clean up your cuts. We'll take it from here." Freddie nodded and went to the bathroom near Spencer's room.

"Did you see where the rat went?" asked Sam.

Carly looked around. "It's hiding somewhere around here."

"Hang on, I've got an idea. I'll be right back." said Spencer. He ran into his bedroom. A few seconds later, Spencer returned to the living room holding a net with a long wooden pole.

"Where'd you get the net from?" asked Carly.

"I found it about a month ago when I was dumpster diving for sculpture materials. Thought it might be useful."

Sam grinned. "Sweet! Let's get that little pest!"

The three of them spread out to search for the rat. Sam went back to the kitchen while the Shays searched the living room. Carly lifted the lamp table that was still standing to look under it. Suddenly, the rat ran out from underneath the table.

"Here he is!" Carly yelled. Spencer ran toward the rat and swung his net. The rat jumped out of the way of Spencer's net and ran for the kitchen. Sam jumped in front of the rat to block its path. The rat turned tail and ran the other way. Sam chased after him. "Spencer! He's coming your way!" she shouted.

The older Shay tightened his grip on the net and waited for Sam to chase the rat close enough for him to catch it. Then he jumped out in front of the rat. Spencer raised his net and brought it down. Unfortunately, Spencer miscalculated how long the wooden pole was and ended up netting Sam's head.

Spencer looked at the girl in horror. "Sam, I'm so sorry!"

Sam bared her teeth at him. "Just get this net off my head!" Spencer tried to lift the net off of Sam, but it was stuck. The rat took advantage of this mishap and sprinted away. "He's getting away!" shouted Carly. Spencer gave up on freeing Sam's head and ran after the rat. He let out a battle cry and made a leap for the rat. While he was in midair, the rat veered to the left. Spencer missed his target and crashed into the blanket-covered cage from Freddie's trap.

Carly ran to her brother. "Spencer, are you okay?!"

Spencer tried to get up, only to find that his head was stuck inside the cage. "Ah, not again!"

Sam ripped the net off her head and threw it down in anger. "All right, that's it! That rat is going down! You guys stay here! I'll be right back!" she said as she stormed toward the apartment door.

Carly looked at her in confusion. "Where are you going?"

"I'm bringing over the big guns!" Sam walked out the door and shut it behind her.

Carly looked at her brother in the corner, let out a big sigh, and walked over to help him. At that moment, Freddie returned from the bathroom with a few Band-Aids on his face. He stared in awe at Spencer in the cage. "Um, what just happened?"

* * *

After freeing Spencer from the cage, the two teens and the young man continued their search for the rat. When twenty minutes passed by and the rat was nowhere in sight, they decided to sit outside Apartment 8-C and wait for Sam. They figured that the rat would come out of hiding by the time Sam returned and they would be ready with whatever it was Sam was planning to do. They were waiting for about half an hour before Sam finally arrived. She was carrying a big cardboard box.

"Hey guys, I'm back."

"Where have you been?" asked Spencer.

"I went to my house. Sorry it took so long." Sam then caught sight of Freddie's Band-Aid covered face. "Hey, you look better!"

Freddie scowled. "Oh, shut up."

"What's that?" asked Carly pointing to the box.

Sam smiled. "I told you I was bringing over the big guns. Well guys, say hello to the big guns." Sam placed the box on the floor and opened its lid. When Carly, Freddie, and Spencer saw what was inside the box, their eyes almost popped out of their sockets. The "big guns" was stirring from his nap and he yawned and stretched before looking up at the group with his yellow eyes.

Carly's horrified gaze turned to Sam. "You brought Frothy here?! Sam, are you out of your mind?! He could cause more damage!"

Sam took Frothy out of the box. "You want to get rid of the rat or not?"

Carly sighed in defeat. "Yes."

"Alright then, we're just going to have to count on Frothy." Sam took a leash out of the box and attached it to Frothy's harness. After tugging the leash a few times to ensure that it was secure, Sam stood up and opened the apartment door. "Okay Frothy, go on in."

The cat slowly stepped into the apartment, studying his surroundings as he walked. Sam followed Frothy into the apartment with the leash in hand and the others followed right behind her.

"So what now?" Spencer said, rather loudly.

Sam turned to look at him and put a finger to her lips. "Shhh! Keep it down!" she whispered.

Spencer lowered his voice. "Sorry. So what now?"

"Now we just let Frothy scope out the apartment for the rat."

"Are you sure he is capable of getting the rat?"

"Yeah I'm sure. What makes you think he can't?"

"Oh I don't know. Maybe the fact that he has _only three legs_!"

Freddie stepped in. "Believe me Spencer, he can run just fine. The first time I went to Sam's house, that cat chased me around her living room."

Sam smirked. "Yeah, that was funny."

"No, it wasn't! Frothy almost killed me!"

Sam frowned at him. "Hey, at least I stopped him before he leapt at you!"

Carly's eyes widened. "You had Freddie go to your house without warning him about Frothy?! Sam, how could you?!"

Sam turned to Carly. "Hey, my mom was there to let him in! I figured she would have warned him!"

While everyone in the group was busy talking to each other, Frothy picked up a scent in the air. He looked around him and sniffed, trying to pinpoint where the source of the scent was coming from. He set his sights on the dining room table. He slowly crept toward the table and and stopped at one of the dining room chairs. He stood up on his hinds legs, propped himself against one of the chair's legs using his remaining foreleg, and peeked over the edge of the seat. The rat was sitting in the center of the seat, munching away at a strawberry. When the rat noticed the feline, he dropped the strawberry and hopped off the chair. Frothy hissed and gave chase. The lease slipped out of Sam's hand, which caught everybody's attention.

"There he is!" yelled Sam pointing to the rat. Sam ran after the two animals and the rest of the group followed suit.

Frothy chased the rat all over the place from the dining room to the living room to the kitchen and then back to the dining room. Sam and the others ran after the cat and tried several times to cut off the rat's escape, but the rodent kept slipping past them. The rat hopped onto the couch and disappeared between the cracks of the couch cushions. Frothy leapt onto the cushions and started clawing at one of them to get to the rat. His claws tore the cushion's fabric and the stuffing started flying everywhere.

"He's tearing up the couch!" shrieked Carly. "Sam, make him stop!"

Sam called out to the feline. "Frothy, stop! Stop that right now!" But the cat was so focused on the chase that he didn't listen to his owner. He just continued to tear the stuffing out of the cushion.

"I've got this!" Spencer shouted as he ran to the couch. Knowing that lifting the demonic cat off the couch would be suicide, he instead lifted the cushion that Frothy was clawing at, exposing the rat from its hiding place. The rat jumped off the couch and ran for the dining room and Frothy chased after him.

Both animals ran in Freddie's direction. Freddie prepared himself to catch at least one of the animals. He made a grab for the rat, but the furry creature managed to slip past him. Then Frothy ran past him too. Freddie quickly grabbed a hold of Frothy's lease.

"Ha! Gotcha!" he yelled as he pulled on the lease. Unfortunately for Freddie, Frothy was a lot stronger than he thought. Freddie was yanked from where he stood and he became the one being pulled by the cat instead. Freddie tried planting his feet to the floor and pulling harder on the leash to stop the rampaging cat, but Frothy did not slow down one bit. He just kept chasing the rat while dragging the poor boy behind him.

The rat and the cat made their way to the living room and they both ran past Sam. Freddie was not so lucky. He crashed into Sam and the two teenagers fell to the floor. Frothy chased the rat into Spencer's bedroom.

"Hey! Get out of my room!" yelled Spencer. He and Carly ran into his bedroom after the two animals.

Sam and Freddie were still on the floor, stunned from their collision. Freddie lifted his face off the floor and rubbed his sore head. "Sam, are you alright?"

"Benson." she said in a low voice.

"Yes, Sam?"

"Get your hand off my boob."

Freddie's eyes widened and he turned his head to look at Sam. Sure enough, his left hand was resting on top of Sam's right breast and Sam was staring at him with a blushing face. Freddie's face turned red as well and he quickly removed his hand from her chest.

"Sorry about that." He quickly stood up and brushed himself off. Then he offered her his hand. Sam looked at it for a second before she grabbed it. Freddie lifted her to her feet. Then she released his hand, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him closer to her still blushing face. "If you tell anyone about this, I'll beat the chiz out of you."

Freddie gulped and quickly nodded in agreement. Sam let go of his shirt. The awkwardness of the moment was broken by the rat and the cat running out of Spencer's room, with the Shays right behind them. Sam and Freddie re-joined the chase.

Frothy chased the rat into the kitchen. The rat tried to run around the dining room table, but Freddie and Sam managed to block its way. The rat made a run for the other side of the table, but Frothy cut off that escape route. The rat turned around to go back the way it came, only to find it blocked off by Carly and Spencer.

There was no way out. The rat was completely surrounded and everyone was closing in on him. With no other option, the rat took a risk. He bolted toward the Shays and ran up Spencer's pant leg. It climbed up onto Spencer's torso. Spencer screamed and tried to brush the rat off. Frothy leapt onto Spencer and clung to his shirt.

"OW! CLAWS! CLAWS! HURTING! OW!" yelled Spencer. The rat crawled all over Spencer while Frothy climbed after it. Spencer frantically tried to shake off the rat and the cat. In his struggle, he accidentally bumped into the elevator button, causing the elevator doors to open. At that moment, the rat jumped onto Carly. Frothy leapt off Spencer and landed on Carly's face. This threw Carly off guard and she stumbled into the elevator. The doors closed right behind her.

"Spencer! Open the elevator!" yelled Freddie.

Spencer pushed the button several times. "I can't! It's already heading upstairs!"

"Come on! Let's catch it!" Sam shouted as she sprinted up the stairs. The boys ran up the stairs after her. The three of them ran into the studio and made it to the elevator doors just as the elevator car was arriving. They could hear the rat's squeals, Frothy's snarls, and Carly's screams from behind the doors. Then the elevator opened. The rat and Frothy rushed out of the elevator car.

Carly slowly staggered out of the elevator. Her hair was a mess and there were scratches on her face and hands. One of the legs of her jeans was torn and she had bits of cat hair all over her shirt.

Freddie touched her shoulder in concern. "Carly! Are you alright?!"

Carly looked at him. "No, I am not! It was horrible in there! I could have died!"

"It's okay now Carly." said Spencer. "It's over and you won't have to go through that again."

Just then, the rat ran back to the group and climbed up Carly's leg. Frothy started running toward Carly.

Carly fearfully held out her hands. "No, get away from me!"

But Frothy pounced on her and she and the two animals ended up back in the elevator car with the doors closing shut on them.

"It's going back downstairs!" said Spencer and he ran out the studio door. Sam and Freddie groaned in frustration and followed him. The group reached the foot of the stairs just as the elevator doors opened in the kitchen. The rat scurried out of the elevator with Frothy in hot pursuit. Carly crawled painfully out of the elevator. This time, both pant legs were shredded and her legs had scratches. Her shirt now had only one sleeve left and she was missing a shoe. Carly looked angrily at Spencer. "I won't have to go through what again?" she asked sarcastically. Spencer held his head down in shame.

Frothy cornered the rat in the kitchen. He slowly crept toward the rodent baring his teeth. Then Frothy pounced. The rat quickly dodged the cat by sprinting to the left. Frothy's face hit the kitchen sink cupboard. The impact caused a frying pan hanging overhead to detach from its hook and land on Frothy's head. The cat fell to the floor unconscious.

Everyone stood there stunned and looked at the fallen cat. Nobody said a word for a moment. Then Freddie broke the silence. "I don't believe this! Even the feline equivalent of Godzilla can't get this rat! Can this situation get any worse?"

Suddenly, there was a loud knocking at the front door and a screechy voice could be heard from the other side. "This is Lewbert! Open this door right now!"

Carly glared at Freddie. "You just had to say that, didn't you?"

Spencer sighed and walked over to the door. He barely opened it a crack before the doorman stormed into the room. "What is going on here?!" he yelled. "I've been getting noise complaints from the residents on this floor!"

Spencer chuckled nervously. "Sorry about that. We have a rat in our apartment. We've been trying to get rid of it for the past week."

Lewbert looked at him in confusion. "So, why not have an exterminator take care of it?"

Carly let out a frustrated sigh. "Thank you Lewbert! That's what I told Spencer in the first place! But he wouldn't listen!"

Spencer turned to his sister. "I've told you already! It's just one rat! It would have been too expensive to call an exterminator just for that!"

Lewbert tapped Spencer on the shoulder. "Uh, you could have had it done for free."

The three teens and Spencer did a double take. "Wait, what?!"

Lewbert nodded. "Yeah, Bushwell's maintenance duties include pest control. The residents can report any pests in their apartment and I call the exterminator from down the block to take care of the pests and Bushwell covers the cost. It's part of your lease contract."

The three teens turned to glare at Spencer, who was turning slightly red in the face and rubbing the back of his head. "Oh...uh...I guess I forgot about that. Heh heh."

"Let me get this straight!" said Carly, her angry gaze never leaving her brother. "We went through all that trouble trying to catch that rat because **you** didn't want to pay for an exterminator and all we could have done was tell Lewbert and have an exterminator take care of the rat FOR FREE!"

Spencer looked at the three angry teens nervously. "Um...yeah, looks like we could have done that instead."

"Spencer, come here." Carly said with a crazed look in her eye.

"I don't want to."

"Why not, dear brother? We just want to talk to you."

Spencer slowly backed toward the door. "Come on guys. Instead of 'talking', why don't we go out for ice cream? My treat."

"Oh sure, we'll definitely get some ice cream." said Sam as she cracked her knuckles. "Right after we hang you up a flagpole by your boxers!"

"Get him!" yelled Freddie.

Spencer screamed and ran out the apartment door. The three teens charged out the door after him, leaving behind a very astonished Lewbert to wonder what in the name of golfballs had he just witnessed.

The End

* * *

**Whew! Man, that took a long time! I hope you enjoyed the story. Feel free to review! :)**


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